The Hogan Life

Sum-Sum-SUMMERTIME!!!!

2011-07-18T22:40:00.000-07:00

The Hogan Family is smack dab in the middle of summer 2011, and we are LOVIN' it! Summer Rocks!! Here are a few photos to make you wish you were hanging out with us this summer...

POOL PARTY!!

(above) Sid & his friend, Tasha, taking a break from swimming. Sid is learning how to swim this summer!
(below) Scott and Soph sharing a moment.

Neighborhood Painting Party

VBS!!!

Water Gun WARS!

Picking Raspberries with Alice

CAMPING! We purchased a tent trailer this summer, and this was our inaugural trip.

4th of July!!!

Neighborhood Super Heroes!!

Canoeing on the Lake

And we finish with a video of Soph's latest adventure....

Musings

2011-05-01T20:46:00.000-07:00

This is Korri. I hope to use the blog to record some memories before the kiddos get too old. Being a history teacher, I think it is so important to keep a journal and yet I am incredibly inconsistent at doing that. I want to write down the memories as they happen, because this old brain is going fast!

Sidota is doing so well in kindergarten. We are proud of our little man. He is learning at a fairly normal rate, I believe, which is pretty incredible for a kid who is on his third language and has only been working on English for 2 and 1/2 years! He can count to 100 in 44 seconds (he was working on that on the way to church this morning). Sid is also doing much better in the social skills category as well. Not in people's faces as much. He seems to be the life of the party with many of his friends. However, we wish he wouldn't take such incredible joy in bugging his sister. That seems to be the main goal in life right now for him. Aggghhh...will it ever end?!? Also on the down side, Sid is breaking things at a record pace. He has written 3 apology notes in the last month...broken borrowed train parts, broken Barbie jeep, broken mirror at childcare. God love him, he just plays so hard and is always pushing the envelope, it seems.
Our boy has such a tender heart, though. He loves his sister like crazy...he really does, and he is so good at playing with her. His smile can light up a room and melt the toughest of hearts. He LOVES to bring me the beautiful golden dandelions that he picks whenever possible. The latest ones were put in one of those little plastic cups that you take your medicine with...so sweet. He is passionate about playing tackle football with his dad in the living room. And he is amazingly good at wrestling with his sister and not hurting her. He has decided that he wants to be a policeman, and he is very excited about his birthday coming up in just 3 weeks.

Sophia continues to grow in stature and in beauty. It is hard to believe that she ever had legs that bowed so far out to the sides that you could fit a football between her knees! She is obsessed with dresses and picking out her outfits all by herself. She is consistent in putting her boots on the wrong feet. It is so precious. He privacy is very important to her right now, although she calls it her "private seat" (Sid does too, actually).
Soph loves to go on pretend adventures, and she loves to host parties in her room. She will sit us all on her bed and go to the closet to turn on the video. She is careful to make sure that we are all comfortable and that she chooses a movie that we will all enjoy. She gets us any snacks that we might want...the perfect hostess!
Sophia loves to sing and dance. After we put her to bed, it is not unusual for her to lay in their and sing for quite a while...oftentimes at the top of her lungs.
However, I think my favorite thing to do with Sophia right now is to let her read to me. She loves it, and she is the cutest thing. My goal is to get some of her reading on video, because it is so hard to describe. You would just have to see it. She looks at the pictures on each page and makes up her own stories. Honestly, it is the most precious thing, and she is so earnest and so serious when she does it.
Okay, hopefully more to come. God has blessed us so very much with these two lives,and I just pray for wisdom and patience each day to raise them to honor and glorify Him.

Sid tells Grandad Hogan about his shoes

2011-04-27T08:31:00.000-07:00

Some Sledding Video From February

2011-04-26T10:06:00.000-07:00

Sid Builds a Tower to Help Mom with a Class

2011-04-25T10:12:00.000-07:00

How We've Spent Our Time...

2011-04-24T20:40:00.000-07:00

A Great December

2011-01-03T14:22:00.001-08:00

My wife was all prepared to rock the competition in a crazy Christmas hair contest, even if it did make it harder to get to work.

Unfortunately, someone else had the same great idea.

We had a great time doing some cookie decorating. Sid knows he put on just a bit too much of teh red sprinkles.

Sophia was like a cookie making machine.

And as usual the kids used their charms to talk someone else into reading them a story.

The anatomy of a snowball fight:
Make the weapon...

Throw the snowball...

Get hit by your opponent...

Duck and hide...

Have your sister bring you a shield...

Laugh at Dad for no apparent reason.

Sid realized he could fly with all his free time over the break. You need to get a good run.

Clear the couch cushions by as high as possible.

And then land on your face.

After that decided that jumping feet first was a better idea.

The kids asked to watch some sort of Christmas show just about every day.

They tried to convince us it would make them happy.

Sophia put the finishing touches on the tree.

After putting on her favorite Christmas dress she decided to work on her looks for when she opens presents.

This is not what you want to see when she opens the one you got her.

I'm not sure how this look relates to presents at all.

The kids were in a Christmas play as Sophia's pre-school. Sophia was asked what part she wanted to play. She said, "What is Sid gonna be - I want to be that."

When Santa came, Sid was shocked. He had no idea Santa was anything other than a TV character. He could not get that look off his face.

My parents came over for a few days. The kids welcomed them my Dad with some professional wrestling.

It's not real if you don't hurt someone (actually, no grandparents were injured in the making of this photo.)

They still had the energy to make gingeebread houses (that's what Sophia calls them.)

Of course the kids couldn't wait to look in their stockings.

Sophia got some tools for "doctorin'" people. She loves to doctor people.

Sid got some Lego robots.

And a new bicycle. He was pretty excited.

We went to my school and rode it around. He hit a locker on accident. Luckily he was wearing a helmet. Don't tell our custodian:)

You got me a what?! I needed a brass plated toilet plunger and cleaner set?

Korri used her free time to make some very fancy deserts that we all enjoyed.

Their favorite present was one of Korri's best ideas. Sid especially loves to scotch tape things. Sophia loves anything Sid loves to do. They each got their own roll of tape.
Have a great new year.

Sophia's B-Day/Halloween Issue

2010-11-14T18:30:00.000-08:00

Summer Vacation

2010-08-12T19:43:00.001-07:00

When we came to visit about 8 months ago, Soph didn't want much to do with the quads, but this time she's a big girl and couldn't get enough of them.

Of course we didn't see the "don't climb on this" sign at the Marine Science Center in Newport, OR until after we saw Sid climbing on it.

You'd think these two liked each other. Sophia adores Sid, and Sid does a great job (for the most part) being an older brother. They have tons of fun together. Any tips on how to keep that going through the teen years?

The kids had a great time at the beach flying a kite, checking out sea lions, and eating sand.

"Sure Dad, I'll smile, but don't let this thing get out of the bowl and eat me, okay?"

Sid became an expert on rock-skipping on this trip. Here, he explains why the rocks in his hands are better for his style of skipping, and he'll find me some better ones in a few minutes. His record is 7 skips.

'Doctoring' has become one of their new favorite make-believe games. It just so happened that Grammy Hogan had a doctorin' kit at the house. Many more patients had their lives saved due to the upgrade in medical technology.

This is my brother's beautiful family (not here is his oldest daughter Sam, who's probably practicing for her upcoming senior season on Eastern Oregon University's basketball team. I can still beat you, Sam:)). The girls are Laikyn, Darian, and Rachel (both good basketball players as well - Laikyn played in the WA State 2A All-State game last year.) This was the first time the cousins got to meet each other.

In case Sophia wants to be a coroner, Darian thought she should know how to draw a good chalk outline, I guess.

Some of our best friends have kids who like to play superhero as much as Sid and Soph, but they have the costumes to go with it. In this sequence, Sid attacks Soph...

Michael defends her by attacking Sid...

Sid retaliates by attacking Rebecca...

Then needs to go get some juice.

After some time on the swingset...

All is forgiven and the superheroes are friends once more.

Sophia couldn't understand why no one wanted to play hoops in the rain with her.

Isaac was busy beating me at some game that I'm sure he practices about 12 hours a day. I'm trying to look like I don't care. Later in the blog you can see his Dad and I teaching Isaac and his brother Eli how to play basketball.

Sid is trying a bit too hard to be unimpressed with Mark's ability to cook two marshmallows at once. Maybe Sid should have told Mark how many times he can skip a rock.

I'm not sure what was so amazing to Sid on the TV, I just loved seeing Sophia sitting so calmly with Michael. We miss our Spokane families so much, and it doesn't make it any easier when we see how well they get along with each other.

After Spokane we stopped in Prosser, WA to see friends who recently moved there from Nampa. Dan was about to let Sid drive the vineyard's semi-truck.

Sid and Sophia and Sophia were nannied together for a couple of years, and are very good friends. They loved getting to play together, even though it was only for a few hours.

Dad and daughter looking totally joyful in their backyard pool.

You'll just have to guess what happened here, but boy can he fly.

Our pediatrician and friend (from the west African country of Ghana) had a party to celebrate his brother's arrival in the States. Sid and our friend Tanner loved the bouncy water slide thing.

Does your doctor get down like ours? I don't think so.

Sid lost another tooth, and is happy to show you. He just pulled this one out by himself. No tears, no pliers, what a stud.

And he's also proud to show you his superhero side. He walked into the room and told me that he was wearing his pants like Superman. We watched the original Christopher Reeves version the other day, and Sid and Soph asked to watch it for the next 6-7 days in a row.

Thanks for checking us out. I know it was a long blog, but two and a half weeks of vacation begets lots of photos ops.

Summer in the Back Yard

2010-07-11T21:08:00.000-07:00

Sophia got a new hat from Korri's folks, and luckily it matched some other stuff. I can't fake like I know why this is important.
Sophia and Sid both love to help mom water her plants and maintain the garden.

Sometimes they even look like they love each other.

We spent some time at a local lake with the cousins. I'm trying to fight the harmful effects of too much sun.

Sophia finally got moved up to an actual bed and out of her crib. She still doesn't know that she can get out of bed on her own:)

Meanwhile, Sid is sleeping with Minnie Mouse.

Soph is a strawberry farmer. Sid has picked most of them prematurely. We've convinced him not to pick without authorization.

Sid took this photo. Not bad at all.

He's also pretty big on home defense. He's hoping to start a Neighborhood Watch Jr. Program. Most of the other kids don't have a rubber-band rifle, so they elected him leader.

This is what the kids call camping. So if they tell you we go camping a lot...well.

This is Sophia and Dad's first big bike ride. It lasted about 5 blocks, which was 4.5 blocks longer that I thought it would last. She borrowed the trike from Tanner, who is all she can talk about now. Sidota is actually a big bike rider. The other day we rode 3.3 miles to play tennis, played for about 90 minutes, then rode home. He took a great nap that day.
The kids love to eat while watching a movie every now and then. The raspberries were picked fresh from our friend Alice's house. She even gave us some plants to bring to our yard.

When I saw this shot of Sophia, she just looked older. Is that just me, or do you see it too?

Sophia checking out what Sid is doing before she enjoys a s'more.

We eat outside lots now that we put an awning up over our pergola. The chairs the kids used were not quite the right size (Sophia could barely see her food). So I built them some Adirondack stools that Sid is modeling for you.

I just thought you may want to see some of the beautiful flowers Korri has put all over the back yard.

She also has planted lots of veggies. She told me there are four different plants there. I don't know what they are, but I'll eat 'em.

Finally, Sid working on setting the world record for shallow diving performed at a full sprint.

Hairstyle Changes, Birthdays, Graduation

2010-05-29T14:32:00.000-07:00

This is what Sophia's hair looked like a month ago, but there will be changes by the end of this episode.

They weren't sure what the colored water was for.

But once they found out, they took to egg dying pretty quickly.

Korri had some nice tulips planted out back. Sid thought they'd make a great centerpiece, so he picked them for mom.

Sid has taken to sleeping with a penguin and a Minnie Mouse doll.

Sid lost his first tooth (took it out with pliers), and had his first tooth fairy experience.

They do play well together, when they aren't bugging each other.

The kids' cousin had a 5th birthday party, with a pinata. Soph enjoyed some time with Uncle Josh.

As Korri prepared to change Sophia's hairstyle, I tried to make her feel better by having a bad hair day with her.

Sid had his 5th birthday party this month as well. He partied at school and at home, with a big Costco cake and the rose topping he chose.

The party gave Sophia a chance to reconnect with her good friend Ryan.

On the 27th, Sid graduated from pre-school. He did great in the show. Afterwards, he got to go to school with mom. He counseled her students on how to best build with blocks.

Spring Break, Time for an Update. Sid Goes Two Wheel Crazy.

2010-03-27T20:57:00.000-07:00

Sidota & Sophia's latest craze has been to wear capes. They started with the pillow cases that you see here in the picture, but Nanny Sara sewed them beautiful red and blue capes that they wear all the time nowadays. Sid even sleeps with his!

Sid wearing the knight's helmet!

We celebrated Scott's birthday with a Costco cake (his absolute favorite) in a tennis theme, of course!

Sid & his friend Tanner got their fishing lines tangled up together. Unfortunately, yours truly (Korri) was the first to discover it and got the exciting task of detangling them.

Oh yes, and Sophia's other craze is wearing ballerina skirts!

Nanny Sara caught these photos of the kids painting...she does such a great job doing arts and crafts with them!

One morning Scott and the kids were eating breakfast and saw these ducks hanging out in the backyard...fun!

THE COUSINS!!

One night Scott started tossing Sid over his head onto the bed. We decided to try to catch a photo of Sid in the air...not bad, eh?

The rest of these photos are from today, March 27, 2010. We went to the park to take the training wheels off of Sid's bike and see what he could do. Oh my goodness, that kid just took off and never looked back! We were amazed at how well he did. We almost felt bad, as if we had been holding him back (even though he really hadn't been riding his bike much with winter and all). Of course, he still ran into things like a fence post, the stroller, and his mom, but overall the kid did great!

Sid was so excited about his success, and so was his dad!

Check out this video of Sid's first 2-wheeled bike ride!

November-December Recap

2009-12-14T17:07:00.000-08:00

Welcome back. Sophia and I have been working on our act trying to get into Cirque de Soleil.

The kids just have been hanging out enjoying each other's time...absolutely no fighting here...or whining...

Just loving each other all the time.

Helping each other make rolls for Thanksgiving dinner.

Getting involved in making the bird. This turkey weighs more than our boy did when he first arrived at the orphanage.

I've also spent some time working with Sid on self-defense.

Unfortunately, Sophia was watching the lesson, and practiced it the first chance she got.

At about noon on Thanksgiving, I proposed to Korri that we should go to Spokane and visit family. We left just 5 hours later (leftovers neatly stored) and got there by 11:30. Jen and Rod and family were nice enough to let us stay with them on very short notice. Sid and Soph just love their kids, and we both think their kids will make great role models for ours...

...well, all kids have their moments right.

Shock and Awe.

Sophia, Eli, Rebecca, Michael, Sidota, and Isaac. We only had to try a few times to get them all looking in the same general direction.

We got to visit our friends Mark and Amy. Here, Soph and their son Evan pretend to take a nap. After knowing Evan for about 75 minutes, I know he has as much imagination already as I have gathered in a lifetime.

We got to see my brother and his wife for the first time since having the kids. Sid isn't totally convinced Chad is 100% safe. He later mentioned, "Uncle Chad is a pretty big guy."

But later, Sophia is hanging on every word of his story.

Getting a bit hard to believe now.

Okay, this guy is full of baloney, right Dad?

We also had time recently to go to a screening of the newest Veggie Tales christmas movie. The boys weren't into it at all.

Sophia and her friend Abby.

There were balloons there, and if we'd have let her, she would have stayed and played with it until she dropped.

We got snow the other day, once it finally warmed up enough to snow, and Sid has been enjoying it. I shoveled up lots of snow from our yard and piled it up on the little hill in our back yard.

Sick at Home -- A Good Day to Blog

2009-11-15T10:51:00.001-08:00

These two lovely ladies would like to welcome you a new post, and thank you for coming back after such a long absence. To start today, the Hogan family wants to share with all of you some of our workout secrets.

Sid wants to remind you that before any strenuous physical activity, you should stretch out and warm up your muscles.

Don't be afraid to enjoy yourself and get a bit jazzy with the movements.

Sophia tries to absorb all the info Sid shares with her about getting your knees up and hands high if she wants to be a drum major.

Just for a second let's take a look at Sid and Dad jogging last year at about this time...

...and compare it to how big Sid is now.

Sophia doesn't want to be left out of the action. Her form needs some work, but the energy level is there.

All the running was to help me prepare for a 6.2 mile fun run (two words that should never go together) that I ran in late October. Sophia said she'd only be in the picture with us if I won, thus the covered face.

Now back to household matters, sort of a day in the life of a young lady. She starts out early in her housecoat, still not quite awake or all together with it.

But after a cup of milk and change of clothes, the half hour project of getting her socks on begins.

Then we change her babiy's diaper--which always seems to be poopy.

And of course doing laundry.

Then she gets Sid to help her do some building. How do you like the hip out pose she has gong on there? Do girls just automatically know to stand that way?

Pretty nice doorway/tunnel they made together, huh?

Oh, While we were away, Sophia had her second birthday. Here she is playing the first of many lovely notes to be played on her new keyboard.

Blowing out the candles on the awesome homemade rainbow cake Korri made.

Doing her best to wish for a toy that Sid will never want to take from her.

The thing you should notice in this photo is the balloon string tied around her arm. That stayed on for days. She slept with it at least once, and if we could pry it off, she asked for it as soon as she woke up.

For what little Halloweening we did, we had a soldier and a lion...

...a lion that scared herself in the mirror and had to be consoled by Dad.

Things got a bit happier as we walked to the church across the street for our hayride.

Sid letting us know that soldiers have boots, and they march like this.

Just to show off how smart Sidota is... At school they made these paper bag hand puppets. The teacher told them to put their name on both. So our genius son did the math, split the words just right and did exactly as told without any help. Okay, maybe you aren't as impressed with it as I am, but a year ago he couldn't even say complete sentences in English.

The First Day of Pre-School -- And Some Other Stuff

2009-09-12T11:13:00.000-07:00

So here he is, all grown up and headed to his first day of school. He goes to school for 3 hours twice a week. It feels weird to be sending him out into the world already.

He got his stuff put away, settles in with some toys, then hears a horrifying announcement...snacks will be delayed.
Sid lures another young man over to help him move some pegs around a board. Sidota observes that yes, the other boy is distracted enough to have left his school bus unattended. Jackpot!! Just kidding, he really didn't take it. He did a great job interacting with the other children.
Seems to be having a pretty serious conversation about dental hygene with this little lady.

Sid and Sophia enjoy some s'mores in the back yard. No, not messy at all.
Yes, he's wearing his underwear on his head. Yes, it is clean, but still pretty odd.

We never have figured out why he likes to put things on his head so much, but we are definitely trying to document it as much as possible. Future blackmail.

The sandbox ran out of sand weeks ago. They sat there doing who knows what for over a half hour together. They were nice to each other, there was no screaming or crying, and it gave Mom and Dad some time to relax on a Saturday morning.

Still Loving Summer

2009-09-01T19:59:00.000-07:00

Sid especially liked sleeping in once he got this great handmade pillowcase/sleeping bag from our friend Peggy.
The boys playing a game of frisby, Sophia riding around in a tutu.
Nampa has this great fountain downtown. At the end of summer, we finally got down there to let the kids play.

We took a trip to Roaring Springs water park to reward Sid for some good potty training. It also celebrated "Gotcha Day", the day we went and got the kids from Adis.

We also let the kids stay up late and gave them some presents.

Some of the couples in our church put on an annual event called the "Tent Pitch". Korri thought we should get the kids used to camping, and this turned out to be the perfect setting.

the first night, Sophia didn't settle in well at all. There were also lots of kids there who didn't go down for naps. Sophia fought it for as long as possible, but eventually fell asleep. I, on the other hand, am looking highly alert...I think.
Korri shows off just how she came to be married to me.
Of course all the activities were safe and well supervised.
Gourmet meals were served.
Sid and many of the kids redirected the flow of the river with all the rocks they threw.
Best of all, the kids got to spend some quality time together.
Sophia loves sour cream.
Typical day poolside. All quiet, no problems.
Then a fight over a cup.
Then hug and make up.
We all got involved in some good natured water fighting.

But in the end, Sophia let us all know just who was in charge. Got your tickets?

This Blog has Tons of Pictures: Also Known as Planes, Trains and Automobiles

2009-07-30T17:17:00.000-07:00

We took our first vacation as the new and improved Hogan family this last week. We visited my parents, Korri's Grandma Kinney, and Korri's parents; the real reason for the trip was to take the kids on an airplane and train. They really like to look at both. Anyhow, there are way too many photos in this blog, but I think my kids are awesome and I have a hard time cutting pics from the starting lineup. So here we go.
Korri's parents helped some friends move from Oregon over to Idaho, so they were here to take us to the airport. Before that, they stayed a couple nights with us, and Jerry got a bit cocky with Sid. In this photo, Jerry asks, "You want a piece of me?"
Sid answers, "No Granddad, I want the whole thing."
Both kids were very excited to get on the plane, and the flight went so much better that the last time we flew with them.
Once we got to Tacoma, I was pleased with how well Sid and Soph got along with my folks, whom they hadn't seen since October. Here, Dad and Sid pretend they are asleep.
They both think they are pretty cool, and get a big kick out of it.
Soph surprised by a camera tracking her at the playground.
Enjoying her time with Mom.
The next few photos are of Sid and Sophia playing in the Puget Sound. Despite the fact that the beach was rocky and the water was sort of cold, they loved it.

We went to downtown Seattle to Pike's Place Market,and watched them throw fish. Also, a crawdad tried to attack Sid from under the counter, but still he smiles.
We are all smiling in this one because they are making some fresh donuts right behind us.

Ivar's was enjoyed by both kids. The birds scared them a bit at first, but in the end they totally loved it.

They liked the train for a while, but in the end, it wasn't the most exciting thing in the world. Our car had some air conditioning trouble, and no outlets to hook up the DVD players. There is only so much Oregon prairie you can see as a 1 year old that is amusing. Luckily, we had some great nutrition to keep her occupied during the trip.

At Grandma Kinney's in Eugene, Sid loved having the stool to help him do dishes and wash his hands. Most of all, they loved the pianos. If I have time, I'll add the video of Sophia dancing to the DEMO mode of the sythesizer.

Jerry did a great job of entertaining the kids, but discovered, as we all have, that it can be a bit trying to wait for Sophia to do something on her own. We went to the river by the house, rode 4 wheelers, saw goats, rode horses, and in general had a pretty good time.
Sid and I were supposed to be drinking fake coffee, but here, he just looks like I'm a bit nuts.
We also caught and released a bat that had been living in Jerry and Judy's house while they were gone. We had to stop Sid from giving it a kiss goodbye.

These photos were all taken at Nye Beach in Newport, OR. It was a beautiful day, sunny with little wind and almost 70 degrees. All went well until Sophia and I talked about the fact that Korri and I probably were not going to pay for her college tuition.

Sid seems to have no fear in some situations. Others, like when Sophia is pinching him, he screams like a banshee. But here, he jumps into a river, full extension, even though he has not clue how to swim. Once in the water, he does three underwater somersaults, and swims underwater for a while before reaching out for my hand. He did this repeatedly. He loved spending time in the water.

Finally, they say goodbye Duke the Dog, who they had been scared of most of the trip.

They had a great time, and there were some things they didn't handle well, but over all things were excellent. However, once we got home, everyone relaxed measurably. Again, sorry it was such a long blog, but I just couldn't help myself.

I Have a Tough Time Thinking of Titles

2009-07-19T21:19:00.000-07:00

These lovely afternoons all start out innocently enough, just a girl sittin outside in the flowers.
Then, Sid gets involved, and everyone ends up wet. Of course, Sophia wants to know how all this works.
You know the old saying, make a mess for a girl, and she's messy for a while, but show her how to make a mess...
And in no time, they were making sweet water fountains together.
Can you see the proud look on his face?
The other day Sid rediscovered this tiger mask, put it on upside down, and decided to go out for a ride. This kids dances to his own beat.
Sometimes, sitting next to Sid in the car is not, shall we say, a pleasant experience for the senses.
Sophia is never sure when is not a good time to strip down and play with the hose.
Korri and Sid went to the Snake River Stampede with family, and he and cousin Bryce had a great time.
Tanner and Sid had a great time playing in the back yard tonight. They pushed trucks around, had Sophia spray water on them, went down the slide. It all turned bad when they threw wet sand all over one side of the house. I wish I had taken pictures before we cleaned it off.
Sophia's instructional video on how to make a homemade water slide.
Now you'll see how the kids abuse me when they think no one is looking. Here, Soph tries to get me to let her stay up later.
Sid had knocked me out with some sort of sleeping potion. He and Sophia will use this time to exact their revenge.
He starts by attempting to remove my braces.
Then Sophia encourages him to perform a labotamy by going in through the nasal passage. It's all fun and games until someone looses brain cells over it.

Stay tuned for our next episode, where there will be way too many photos. We leave Tuesday for a flight to Tacoma, train trip to Eugene, OR, and a stay at the coast before another plane trip home.

Parades, Weddings, the Zoo and a Frog

2009-07-12T23:14:00.000-07:00

.Pay attention folks, lots of pictures, lots of activities, please keep up.
I have some very...
...beatutiful ladies...
...in my life.
Now, back to our trip to the park. This thing in the park was supposed to rock back and forth. Sid didn't mind how many people were in it, he just knew he could get it going. I love the kid's optimism.
And he was positive he could get this little machine to work.
Okay, I may need a little help with this one.
And no family picnic would be right without some arguements. Here, Soph is hugging Sid as an apology for whatever he may have done.
Then, she attacks me from behind with a baggie full of PB&J sandwiches.
Lots of kids do swim lessons during the summer.
We're gonna get Sid some swinging lessons.
Sophia has mastered the leg tackle.
Korri and Sophia went to the zoo with a group of Moms and kids the other day. They got to see the circle of life up close.
How good would the picture look if all the kids were paying attention?
As you see, the other kids are sort of impressed with the fake elephant. Sophia, not so much.
She did like having Ian push her stroller.
And going down the slide with Mommy.
And playing in the sprinkler when she got home.
She has also started to want to put on her own clothes.
We have a little bit of work to do on that subject.
But eventually she almost gets it right.
She really likes it when Sid plays with her. Here, she talked him into playing "we're asleep". We had to get all excited every time they woke up.
At the Snake River Rodeo stampede, Sid and Sophia were given the award for the best loud HI, usually said after the person/horse was safely past.
The best coordinated photo we could get of them dressed up for a wedding reception we went to for one of Korri's former students.
Caught in the act of a flick.
This was the frog who'd taken up residence in our backyard pond. He would serenade just outside our bedroom window. I captured him humanely, and you'll have to tune in again to find out what happened to him or her, I didn't check.
We had a pretty good week, finally getting to spend some time just hanging out as a family

The kids are doing great, and at times play so well together that it makes you think they might get along on a permanent basis. Then you blink, someone is screaming, the other one is looking around, like, "What just happened?" Honestly, we're having a great time. Please keep praying for us, we need it.

Summer, Water, and Fireworks

2009-07-06T14:56:00.000-07:00

I taught summer school for the first time in my career this June, so summer got a little bit of a late start for me. Our last day was July 2nd, so I'm looking forward to lots of time spent with Korri and the kiddos now.

I start this blog with the three of us looking pretty normal. Sophia never really gets to hyped for photos. As soon as she sees the camera, your lucky to get a smile 1 out of 10 times. Sid is always happy to be a subject.
Here you find the kids doing one of their favorite pasttimes, reading. They really do love it. You usually don't find them doing it this close to each other without some mild violence and crying.
Now, back to what you're used to, embarrassing shots. Potty training has been a challenge with Soph, we're not even close to seeing the light at the end of this tunnel. Often, she'll tell us that she has just gone in her diaper, not that she needs to go. That's a start--right?
Sid loves airplanes. We're taking a trip this month that involves two flights, partly to see family, but also because they love to talk about planes so much. This is an airplane made of greenbeans.

He is also still an accomplilshed mega-bloks architect. This structure is taller than he is, so he wanted proof for posterity before Sophia knocked it down.

Sid can impersonate a fish in the new pool we got for the back yard.
He can also be a whale. Sophia is worried that he can't swim a lick, and is about to call in the lifeguard...
...when Sid emerges from the water looking better than Aquaman.
It isn't all fun and games in the pool though. We have them do some workouts as well. Since they can't swim laps, they walk laps to build leg strength. Sophia's job is much harder, considering she carries about 10 lbs. of water in her diaper.
Sid convinced me to put this one in, he thought it showed off his guns pretty well.
Besides the pool they also play in this waterfall and pond that their Grandpa Kinney created when he built our house. It is a beautiful area to spend time around, and the kids love it. We have recently acquired a frog that lives in it, and likes to croak from 9 pm to about 2 am.

Sid was the victim of an unprovoked attack in the park the other day. Just kidding, this is our good friend Isaac working on some Greco-Roman wrestling techniques at the 4th of July picnic.
At the picnic, they had a little Jeep that Sid somehow convinced Soph to get into..
...only to realize he didn't have the slightest clue how to drive a pink Jeep.
Sophia eventually got out in disgust. Sid is left wondering how he can recover from the shame, figure out the instrument panel, and get his confidence back before sparkler time rolls around.

It was hard to keep Sid from running out onto the lawn to see how Steve was getting the fireworks to fly so high and make so muck noise. Here, he waits to light his first sparkler. He did a great job of running around in cirlces with fire inches from his fingers.
He totally loved the fireworks.
This one is just for my enjoyment. Dude loves to wear hats. Peace out.

Just Another Week in the Life of a Somewhat New Family

2009-06-21T20:44:00.000-07:00

Before we get started with this weeks episode, lets have a photo of us looking like a normal family the othger day on the greenbelt.

Now on to some recent and disturbing behavior. Sid has begun to make sneak attacks on us lately. I'm guessing that he feels more stealthy in his underwear.

At least this time he has his shirt on and securely tucked in to his drawers. He likes to come at you from above, and go straight for the head.

Sophia has been a bit cranky lately. When pressed as to why, she shows us that she's busting out some new teeth.

Sohpia has gotten involved in using the sand box lately. Today I came out to check on her because we heard a little whining. She was whining while playing, and Sid informed me that she had gotten sand in her mouth and eyes. She admitted that it was no accident, she was trying to eat it.

Now she may look kind and innocent in many of these pictures, but her doll would not always agree. Here, Soph is trying to figure out if the baby has a clean diaper...

...when the baby is less than cooperative, the interrogation gets a little rough.

When it came time to change the diaper, she called in an expert. Turns out it smelled pretty bad. The kids seemed to find this humorous. I was not amused.

On that note, Sid wanted to know if he could please be excused from the blog.

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Korri is Now a Full Time Mom

2009-06-11T20:15:00.000-07:00

So Korri is now home with the kids all day while I teach summer school until about 1 o'clock for the next month. The kids are loving having their mommy home all day. I know you will be surprised to have pictures of them sitting on the counter.
Soph is working on her poses for when she gets her own cooking show. The inability to read a recipe has slowed her down a bit.
So the other day the kids were just sitting on the counter, having their morning pick me, and discussing skin treatments for the African-American child...
When Sid pulled a bit of a prank on his sister. First he told her that animal crackers would help with those oily spots that have been bugging her...
And while some feel a hot towel is theraputic, Sid convinced her that a cool wet-wipe would work just as well.
Was that wrong?
The other day Sid went to school with Korri for a day. It gave us quite a preview of what we have in store in about a year. He looks like such a big boy to me here.
Then he goes and does something like this, and completely redeems himself as the comedian he is.
Sometimes Sidota overestimates Sophia's interest in how much he knows about trains and tractors.
Finally for today, Sid got this lovely tiger mask for his birthday, and gave us some great roars.

Thanks again for tuning in.

So Now That Tennis Season is Over

2009-05-31T14:08:00.000-07:00

Oh, you guys are back, I was just having some salad....er...desert.
We've just been doing the average stuff over the last few months. Learning to read, or listen to Dad read. Sophia asks about 20 times a day to read a book. It is often the first thing she asks in the morning after she confirms that Mommy is awake and Sid is upstairs.
Sid has caught up a bit in growth with his cousins. They both towered over him early on, but he holds his own now. They even seem to get along.
We have spent a pretty good amount of time outside. Sophia still isn't that great at getting even coverage on the sunscreen.
They don't always enjoy is when Mom tries to play beauty shop with them.
Sid has gravitated to watching Olivia Newton John videos from the 80s. Loves a good headband.
They both enjoyed Easter. It was fiarly easy hiding eggs from Sophia. As she picked up one egg, I'd grab one out of her basket, and toss it over my shoulder onto the lawn.
We even got them to calm down enough for a family picture.
Sophia discovered that "sour cream" is one of her favorites. It is actually whip cream, but her and Sid can't seem to get that straight.
Of course they always get along.
Unless one decides to touch the other...
...then some serious mostly fake crying for Mom or Dad's benefit can occur.
But they do make up well.
Sid had his 4th birthday, and was pretty excited for the cake.
Only to learn that he had to give some of it away.
But he still got as much as he could handle.
GET IN MY BELLY!
Everyone seemed to enjoy the get together...
...maybe some people were bored.
The boys played in the water a lot.
Then played a while longer.
Sid and Ty had a good time on the swing.

In all seriousness, the kids are doing so well. Sid is now about 39 inches tall, and about 39-40 lbs. depending on how much he eats in a given day. Sophia is 30.5 inches and hefty. She is heavier and taller that Sid was when he was 3, just a short year ago. Sid has grown about 7 inches in the last 10-12 months. Sid's language is always getting better. Sophia can say anything, mostly because she wants to be like Sid. We had quite the conversation today about our lack of turkey lunchmeat to go along with the cheese she wanted for a snack before she went over to a friend's house to see Korri.
We know that many of you must be praying for us, or else things wouldn't be going so well. Please keep it up. Everything isn't perfect. Sophia has been spending anywhere from 5 to sometimes 25 minutes crying after we put her down for bed. We think she's figured out that life doesn't stop once she goes into the crib.
With tennis season done, I hope to do more blogging. It would be hard to do less.

Happy Something7th Birthday Grammy Hogan

2009-02-20T08:36:00.000-08:00

This blog starts with a special song for Grammy Hogan, who is celebrating a birthday today. Have a great day Mom!
Sid is happy to welcome everyone to this blog entry, mainly because it contains embarrassing photos of his sister. Sophia wants to do anything her brother does. She is always very curious when he goes to the bathroom. If you ask him, overly so. Lately she has enjoyed saying poopy. The other day, she said it repeatedly and was sort of crying, so Korri went and put her on the toilet. Sure enough, she got right down to business, with the whole family looking on. The paperwork was a bit of a challenge, her arms aren't long enough to reach anywhere helpful, she mostyly wiped off her hip. Regardless, we were amused and pleased.
Sid is asking to go visit our friends Dan and Candee.
Now, he wants to watch the Jungle Book.
Finally, he didn't like that the magnets stuck only to metal, which we don't have a lot of. So, he finds a way to make them stick to wood.

So It's Been a Few Weeks...

2009-02-08T16:50:00.000-08:00

And Sidota has been sitting on the couch waiting patiently the entire time!
Sophia, on the other hand, has been getting ready for school. Three and a half years early isn't too much time to find just the right backpack.
In case you've missed it, Sophia likes to put things on her head. In this shot, you see Sid begging for his underwear back. Then she whacked him with the tennis racket in the background.
This is one of the few pictures we have taken where we are all smiling in the same direction at the same time.
Korri found this hat for Sophia for a quarter. Who knew Nemo had fallen so far out of fashion? That movie must still be pretty popular in Ethiopia, because Sid wore that thing around the rest of the day.
Finally, for your viewing pleasure, a video of Sidota talking about his newest favorite subject--swimming and the water slide. Anyone who can give me a written transcript of exactly what he is saying will win 10% of whatever stimulus package Congress saddles our kids with the debt to. Good luck.

Random Shots of the Week

2009-01-17T16:21:00.000-08:00

So I looked at some other blogs this week, and it seems that other bloggers often use theirs as diaries. They have lots more writing and personal insight than mine. Sorry if that's what you are looking for here. I'm not much for insight at all, I'm just putting up pictures.

On that note, Sophia has remained on her helmet kick. Almost every day the last week she has asked to wear it.
She also felt that this great camo vest went well with her mostly pink outfit.
Sid tried to hide his disagreement, but didn't do a great job.
We're trying to get Sophia a job as a model for the ad campaign of a new product, "Baby Soul Glo".
Sid showing off his muscles.
Sid obviously didn't feel this was the appropriate time for cameras.
Never too early to start working on your senior class photo pose.
The Passero family handed down some great sport clothes to us. Sid kept these shorts on for about three days. He will probably wear them out before they are too small. Sophia is now a big Peyton Manning fan.
We thought his gut was getting smaller, but obviously we are wrong.

2009-01-10T10:56:00.000-08:00

Sophia, always looking sassy in her headgear. This selection, a bib we got from KLM Airlines on our way home from Ethiopia.

Sidota, who has started drawing shapes such as the circle, square, and triangle, doesn't just want to be smart. Here he practices his gymnastics to remain in peak physical condition.

The look of frustration is not because his computer runs on Vista. He was having a really tough time getting pictures to upload.

We've been able to convince Sidota that his sister actually likes having him play with her. She likes getting tickled.

Sidota got fined by the State Patrol for not having his WIDE LOAD signs properly affixed to the truck.

Sophia thought that last comment was a bit out of bounds.

The proud builder.
Can you draw triangles this well? I didn't think so.

Yes, our kids are wierd. Sid found Sophia's helmet in the closet, so we had to get his as well. They wore these around most of the morning.

The helmet got sort of heavy, so the princess takes a rest.

Sophia would like to thank everyone for checking in with the blog.

But before we go, here is just a sample of their interactions with each other in a two-minute span.

And a Happy New Year

2009-01-01T10:34:00.000-08:00

What - you thought the Christmas pictures were done? Sophia got this great train - IT MAKES NOISES!! She had to take off her frilly dress to ride it.
Sid got a fire engine. He was spinnig the ladder around and ducking under it.
I told Sophia that she was getting the furniture to a doll house, and we'd get her the house later when we could afford it...
...then she stuffed this table in my face and made some threats...
...so we showed her that we actually did get her the doll house this year. Hmmm, content now.
Cousins Sidota and Bryce realizing that other kids were also getting gifts.
Howdy Doody Granddad (that's what Sid calls Jerry) showing Sophia how easy it is to use the GPS he got for Christmas.
The Kinney men putting together their train tracks.
This convoy of new Tonka trucks was running well untile Sid decided to pull over for some modifications.
Cousins Sid and Aiden sitting quietly for at least 5 seconds.
Looking at this family photo, Aiden in the bottom left is alreay getting out of his seat. Why you may ask?
Kelli can still move pretty fast, getting to her son before he can do any real damage to the camera.
Again, the boys playing together for seconds, at most.
All right, leave us alone already, we're playing with our toys.GOD BLESS YOU IN THIS NEW YEAR!

Merry Christmases...is that the correct plural for Christmas?

2008-12-28T22:32:00.000-08:00

Sophia has been a bit testy lately. As she gets more mobile, independent, and talkative, she is more easily upset by her brother. In this case, I think it's the dress that is bugging her.
Here she enjoys a quiet moment alone with her new horse, feeding it imaginary apples.

This is me showing Sidota his stocking, handmade by Korri.

Sophia took a little time to warm up to the idea. She saw Sid opening his and cried the whole time. It took time to pry her away from cryig over his to show her that she got one as well.

Even once she did decide to look inside, it was hard to explain to her what 'sparklers' are. No, we didn't let her play with them. Someone else had given them to us, and the boxes had bright colors on them. Zoom in on the photo, and you can still se the tears on her face.

She also got a coloring book, but didn't want to put the sparklers down to look at it.
Sid loves to spin things. Korri caught this picture perfectly. His face gets pretty tense as he waits to see just when the squishy ball flys out of his hand.
What 14 month old can't use a pink boa?
I got Korri some nifty tea in her stocking. I didn't have the heart to tell her that it would taste better if she opened the package and put it in some hot water.
Sid tries to divine what is in the package just by putting his hand on the box and concentrating.
Like any first Christmas, Korri had to help them with the whole ripping the paper thing.
They were both pretty enthralled with these bobblehead style ornaments from the Porritt family.
Sophia enjoyed making a two story tee-pee with our new Lincoln Logs.
Sidota is already working on his Halloween costume for next year -- The Green Lantern. I like that he tries to have a pretty cool look on his face, while holding glittery green ribbon over his eyes.

Twas the Day Before Christmas

2008-12-24T11:10:00.000-08:00

So here we have a collection of video that is a mere taste of what it is like with Sidota, mainly the outside one, and Sophia in the snow.

One photo in which Sophia isn't crying.
We had some snow, much like the rest of the U.S., so Korri got right out there to shovel.
Sophia looks happy in this picture, mainly because she was the only one not working.
Of course, as soon as Sid and I get in the shot, she cries like the primadonna she has become of late.
We told Sid that if he was gonna be outside, he'd need to do some work, but he was really interested in playing with his "truck" also. Can you tell this surprised him?
What, you still want me sweeping the snow off the driveway?
This is only our second Christmas tree in 8 years together. Sophia is too mesmerized by the lights to smile.
You may remember from some earlier blogs that Sid loves to wear hats. He thought these two should be worn at the same time.
Don't tell Sophia, but one of the gifts she'll be opening is a dollhouse. Judging from this photo of Sid enjoying the toys that go with it, there will be some fighting over playtime.

Let It Buh-Snow!!

2008-12-17T21:02:00.001-08:00

We have been blessed with some snow here in the Treasure Valley. Sidota, phonically challenged, calls it buh-snow.
So this is the photo right before everyone lets me know they need to go to the bathroom:)
Sohpia isn't quite sure, but she realizes something is different than usual.
But after a few minutes, and seeing her brother enjoying himself, she decides she likes it.
Sidota isn't holding a mini shovel. This summer we were going canoeing, and realized we didn't have enough paddles. I'm pretty sure it was Ryan Wi1hite who forgot to bring them. So we went and bought these ultra-cheap paddles. Turns out it is the perfect size for Sid to work with.
Korri is always trying to get a photo-op. Sidota is pretty good about posing with her.

Not truly shoveling off the walk, just redistribution.
At our Bible study's white elephant gift exchange, I got this beautiful picture of the other Sophia in our life. She's Sophia M. (names have been shortened to protect the innocent), and is about the same age as our Sophia. She likes to hug and look for belly-buttons.
Our nanny has been trying to teach the kids to be self sufficient. Soph is learning to do basic stroller maintenance. First, like Obama suggested, check for proper tire pressure...
...then make sure there are no oil leaks on the kitchen floor.
The girls were trying to intimidate Sid into giving up his toy. I said Sophia, and they both turned right on cue, not looking guilty at all.
We came away with this great horse, not your typical white elephant gift. All I brought were some used hats.
Sidota found this great cardboard tube that perfectly framed his face...
...and conveniently magnified his voice by at 50 times.

Last but not least, our friend Sarah had a birthday the 17th. Happy 42nd! I know, she doesn't look a day over 35 to me either.

Lots of things going on in the last few weeks

2008-12-14T09:45:00.000-08:00

Since our last post, we've had a bit going on. Over the Thanksgiving week, my sister and her son Garrett were in town, along with my parents. They all stayed with Korri's mom and dad, who graciously opened up their house. We truly enjoyed having all of them here, and we are pretty sure they liked getting to see Sidota and Sophia a little bit. After the long holiday weekend, we started introducing Stephanie to the kids. She comes over from 10 to 2:30 and watches over our kids for us. She also brings her daughter, who is almost the same age as Sophia. After a few days of having Korri and Steph here, Korri and I both went to work for the first time since August. It was a complete blessing to have had 3 full months home with our family, and we also feel blessed to have Steph as our nanny. Our kids have handled it very well. Yes, there have been some bumps, but we would have been worried if there weren't. Sidota is just as surprised as anyone that I finally am doing another blog. The 30th of November, we dedicated our kids at Eagle Nazarene Church. We'd like to thank all our friends and family who made it there to be with us. Sid has gotten really good at going to the bathroom by himself. The other day we went in and came out looking a little off. We noticed his pants were on inside out and backwards. When Korri tried to fix that... ...she realized he was wearing his diapers inside out and backwards as well. Sophia has taken to riding this lovely bicycle. However, she warns against getting too confident when one rides. She has firsthand experience with what that can lead to. She also encourages all riders to wear helmets. Korri and I both enjoy getting to spend morning time with the kids. They seem most willing to play nicely with each other when they've just woken up. Sid must be re-enacting the flying monkeys from The Wizard of Oz, trying to explain to Sophia just how dangerous and scary they are. She isn't getting it. Sid really enjoys playing music on his big stereo system. He will sit in front of it for a half hour playing his one cd, with just one song on it, over and over. Following is just a small sample.

Sid knows that the best way to get into a picture is to try and be nice to his sister. She senses the lack of sincerity. All the blogging has tired Sophia out, so we'll see you next time.

Celebrating 20 Years of Friendship!

2008-11-28T08:39:00.000-08:00

So really, they don't look much different, do they? Now they have six kids between them. Would they have ever guessed that while they were dancing for this photo? Could they have imagined that Al Gore would be inventing the internet--where it would be published for the world to see?
Sophia has been working on self defense. If there are people in the house who are getting a bit too close, poke 'em in the eye. Don't let the tutu fool you, she's tough.
If that doesn't work, run and hide in the bathroom.
I'm not sure how Korri's sports bra can be used. It looks like she's pretty deep in thought about the same thing. She loves to pick up just about any item of clothing she can find, carry it around for a while, and probably wear it on her head.
Sid is an industrious and helpful fellow. After a recent shower, he decided that it needed a bit of cleaning. By next summer, I'm hoping he's tall enough to wash my car.
This is Sophia's League of Super Plush Crib Defenders. Who would mess with that dangerous looking crew?
Sid has a much smaller entourage, just a penguin and a bear.

Hangin' at the House

2008-11-25T08:48:00.000-08:00

Sidota and Sophia would like to welcome you back to the blog, and are excited to see this week's pictures.
Sidota gets pretty pumped to help put on his clothes. Sometimes in his zeal to put on the pants, they come up a bit too far.
Sophia thinks it's awesome that we started with that one.
"Dad, that's totally embarrasing." I told Sid not to worry, we'd get some compromising photos of his sister.
Like her wearing Korri's pajama top on her head. She walked around with this on for about 5 minutes.
And one of her showing off just how much egg manages not to get in her mouth when eating breakfast.
While Sidota thought that was much better, Sophia was less than impressed.
We also spend some of our morning time reading...
...watching Curious George...
...and enjoying a nice cup of hot chocolate.
Anyone else want a drink?
Korri seems to be glad that she's creating another chocolate addict in the house. There goes "Mommy of the Year".
She makes up for it by adding a new element to bath time. The bubbles were an automatic hit with Sid, but they scare Sophia. We think it's because she can't see the water.
But she feels better about the whole thing when her brother starts playing with her. She loves him tons, and really likes his attention.
And he is obviously amused with what he created.
Sophia has also gotten more coordinated. Now when she throws balls, they often go forward. This is quite an improvement.
Sid was so happy for her that he really wanted to get involved in her development. He thought that if she had some plays designed to fit her throwing style, she'd practice more. This one appeared to be a triple-reverse with a lot of scrambling by the quarterback.
We hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving Day, celebrating all the gifts God has given.

Sidota - The Art Years

2008-11-18T08:05:00.000-08:00

Yes, we've been in the witness protection program. No, just busy with life and stuff. Sophia is taking this time to learn how to put on hats.
We told Sidota that he couldn't be on the blog again until he learned his ABCs. He actually calls them the ABCDs, why should D get left out of the title?
So in this blog you'll see Sid's newest form of self expression -- Mega Blok art. They are fairly abstract, so don't feel badly if you don't see what he sees. This one is called "Volleyball Music".
The one closest to you is the world's first "Volleyball Tractor". The other one is pretty basic, "Baby Lawnmower". Yeah, lots of stuff relates to volleyball for him. Instead of throwing, he likes to hit things out of his hand, like a serve.
"Biggee Helicopter" This was cool because I asked him to smile, and he didn't give one of those forced looks that was half grimace, half smile.
Sid is so good, he can name what movie is coming on, even with his eyes closed.
He was right, it's Dumbo. Look at the hands, clasped in anxious excitement. Sophia, not so much. Of course, the attention span lasts about 10 to 15 minutes into the movie, when the train makes its final appearance. He thought it was the main character, calling the movie "Dumbo Train".
Do you think I should wash this bottle before I use it again?
What about now?
Sophia believes, "Definitely YES!"
Sidota overestimates the importance of our blog just a bit. I asked him where he thought our blog ranked in hits for all sites on the intenet -- EVER. He may be putting us just a bit high. Maybe he thought I was asking him where he kept his boogers.

2008-11-08T07:43:00.000-08:00

We're BAAACK! It's been a while, but as I start teaching a few days a week, less time gets spent doing the blog. Sorry.
Wednesday thhe 5th, Sid came home from Bible study with this swelling on his face, we still don't know what it was. It went down after taking some Benadryl. The next morning, his face was a bit puffy, but nothing serious. After his nap though, he had that same swelling down his back, bottom and legs. Our doctor's office recommended we take him to Quick Care. That doc told us the swelling around his face could be pretty serious and he may have to stay in the hospital over night. He was admitted to the ER, where the doctor told us it was not a big deal. Korri and the kids were at the hospital for about 3 hours, and she said the kids held up great.
Sophia likes apples, but not the peels. She takes in the chunk, works it over a while, then spits out the peel onto her tray. No, it NEVER ends up on the floor.
I wasn't home when this was done, so I can only guess what really happened, but here goes. Korri put the kids in these containers. They sat content as she covered the main rule -- keep your hands inside the container at all times.
Sid looked at his sister and privately wondered how long that would last.
Not long!
I'm pretty sure that right now Sid is looking into the future and predicting that this...
...will be sort of funny when it happens. It even looks like he was increasing his security grip, in case she reached out to grab his bucket on her way down.
But, like the great big brother he is becoming, he picks her up and gives her a big hug to let her know things are okay.
But he feels that with her acccident prone nature, and lack of a full set of teeth at this point, he should also teach her to do the heimlich maneuver.

The Halloween Issue

2008-10-31T19:51:00.000-07:00

The other day Korri was canning apples. When she peeled them it created these long apple shoestrings. Sid thought they were pretty cool.
They did not make a very good blindfold.
We don't have cows to milk, so we have to find other chores for him to do at the crack of 9 a.m. If the surface is slick enough, he can push all three hampers at once.
Sophia, on the other hand, doesn't work very hard at all.
So on to the halloween costumes. Korri did a great job of throwing together a costume on short notice. Pretty scary pirate, huh?
He was wondering how he would be able to brush his teeth with that thing on.
Problem solved. Sister impressed.
Her costume started out looking like she was going to be a cat-burglar.
Then began to take shape a bit.
And eventually she became a lady bug extraordinaire. Okay, not looking too enthused.
Then she was told by her brother that lady bugs can fly, and she perked up.
She was pretty upset when she found out that wasn't true.
She was excited when she got this great Winnie the Pooh stuffed animal from Dana Hoxsey (a friend and co-worker)and her daughters.
Sid was jealuos until he saw that he got an awesome PlayDoh set.
I can't tell what it is, but he was pumped to show it to me.
He disappeared into the kitchen with the jars, and when I went to find him, I could see how much he valued the playdoh. Didn't want them to get rotten I guess.
Sidota, Sophia, Jadyn (hope that's spelled right), Anna and Alivia went to the mall for some trick or treating.
And later we went by a local church for their astro-jump slides.
Happy Halloween!

Togetherness -- Sidota and Sophia Style

2008-10-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

So this is the kids hard at work in the bathtub. As soon as they get in it is a rush to get to the best toys first. Of course the best toys are the ones the other kid has. Except this time, where Sophia is busy seeing just how long the duck can hold its breath under water, and Sid is conducting a science experiment.
Which he then shows to Sophia. You can't hear it, but he was explaining to her the inner workings of a vortex and the corresponding effects on space travel.
Sidota isn't just a science wonder child. He also has a blue-collar side. Here he discusses the basics of heavy equipment operation with Sophia at a breakfast meeting.
No, he's not trying to figure out the best way to sweep under the fridge.
A toy got stuck under there, and the swiffer is the best way to get it out.
We discovered that Sidota has the power to levitate, but he doesn't quite know how to control it. Here, I'm trying to talk him back down off the ceiling.
Okay, what does it look like he's doing with his finger in this shot?
And this one?
The blog's over already -- get back to work.

First Time to a Restaurant -- Second Trip to Church -- Righting a Wrong

2008-10-26T18:17:00.000-07:00

So before we get this going, I need to do something that I've meant to do since I started this blog. We had our good friend Wende Tindall paint some great animal scenes on Sophia's bedroom walls. Both kids will often go in and name the animals they see there. Any time I am rocking Sophia before she sleeps, I have her beautiful work to look at. Thanks so much Wende!The animals match the animals on the blanket hanging on Sophia's crib. I thought that was great, and I'm sure Sophia will notice eventually.
Up on the shelf, you may notice a little blond basketball player. My Grandma Paul made this for me, I would guess about 30 years ago. It was attached to a lamp. My brother had one too. His broke decades ago -- I didn't do it. I have always loved that little guy. He is wearing my high school colors, maroon and grey. I've had him every place I have lived for almost as long as I've lived. Thanks Grandma!!
So we finally got those cherished birthday style photos where the kid smears themselves with cake, ours was just a couple days later. She was pretty proud of herself.
She wanted to point out all the places she was able to get the frosting.
But then she remembered about the blog, and began to get surly...
...before going downright Sean Penn on me. I will be suing for punative damages, pain and suffering.
Meanwhile, Sidota sat on the floor right by the chair, trying to screw this piece of scrap wood to the floor. It was a great time consumer, and I'm sure he'll grow up to be a master carpenter.
Friday we attended a soccer match that our pediatrician was playing in. He wanted to introduce us to an Ethiopian man he knows. Most of the men on the team are African, and many of the fans there were as well. One young boy came up and asked if Sidota was our servant. I said no. "Then why is he brown?" the boy asked. It was interesting, and we told did tell the boy we had adopted them. Sid played with some of the kids intermitently, while constantly checking with me to make sure I didn't get to far away. While leaving, he found a feather on the ground to play with. Judging from how he seemed to like it, he'll be getting feathers for Christmas.
We went to our first dinner out. The food at some Flatbread oven place over by Bowen Crossing was good. The kids behaved great, thanks mainly to Cheerios and peanut butter and honey sandwiches Korri had the forethought to prepare.
Sophia waited patiently for her meal, and was a decent tipper.
This is Sophia patrolling the back pew at church today. It was our second Sunday in a row, and the kids did great.
Okay, for the most part they did great, but Sid had his moments. He just loves to run so much!
Of course that love to run often leads to him looking like this on car rides home. Or maybe he's just bored with the blog.

Sophia's First Birthday Bash

2008-10-23T21:00:00.000-07:00

What?! It's my birthday? Yes, Spohia is one year old. Here she is eating from the birthday plate.

In case you can't see what I have on my plate, let me show you that I am having scrambled eggs and corn-cakes.

In her need to see if there was any food left, she dumps it all on the tray.

Sid enjoyed putting the food on his fork, then dipping the fork in his milk glass. No, it wasn't messy at all, why would you think that?

On her birthday, Sophia wanted to show off some of her walking skills.

The high above her head hands makes me pretty sure she will have a fine career as a drum majorette in her future.

So for the presesnt opening, we thought we'd begin with the simple stuff, ripping little pieces off a card.

But Sid wanted to go big right away, getting open a large construction toy that the three boys battled over the rest of the night. Sophia, not so much.

Here Sophia shows classic childhood opening strategy for kids from any continent, open the present...

...then worry about reading the card.

This glimpse was about all the quality time she got to spend with the skid-steer.

Just hanging out with the balloons before Sidota tries to destroy them. I guess he thought they were punching bags.

This is the first time Sophia has been allowed to handle pizza. You can insert your own ideas for what she is thinking with that look on her face.

Korri thought it would be fun to watch the boys 'bob for peaches" (they are softer and easier to get than apples). I didn't think it would work. I was way off. They loved it, but no, no one got a peach.

Sophia believes she has the ability to put out flames by pointing her hand in that general direction. The candle is in a peach-shaped cake.

With whipped cream frosting that pretty much just ended up on her hands.

Sidota took this lick, and a small bite, but wasn't into the cupcakes. We have been blessed with kids that so far, aren't really into sweets or TV. We are going to do our best to maintain that.

Aidan, and I (not pictured, obviously) both enjoyed the dessert. He just got more of it on his face.

This is Sophia enjoying her newest favorite activity--opening and closing doors. This door to their upstairs playroom works best for that, since it doesn't close all the way. See ya!

Need Salsa? We Have Extra -- Free.

2008-10-21T19:46:00.000-07:00

I've had this thought as I continue to blog, so I thought I'd share it with you, which is not really in my nature to do, so that I can give credit where it is due. I'm pretty sure that most of the creativity in my writing comes from the influence of my mom, Sharon. She always encouraged stuff like that, and is herself, in general, a ham at heart. Love you Mom. On the other hand, she gets absolutely no credit for me being able to play basketball--she really stinks at that--her defense is 100% about fouling you. Sports was all my Pa. Okay, now that I've shared way too much...

Sophia likes to go into rooms, and close the door, pretty much locking herself in. To her credit, she really doesn't cry. She can always find something fairly harmless to occupy her time. She had been in this room for a couple minutes when we decided to check on her.

Oh, hey Mom and Dad, I just found these tomatoes and thought I'd get started making that salsa you were talking about having with dinner tonight. You said the first step was to smash the tomato against a velour track suit, right? I may have misunderstood you, my English isn't so great.
Does the stain sort of resemble North America, or is that just the geography teacher in me? Notice Alaska in the upper left corner.
So on a daily basis we have to put lotion on the kids or their skin will get dry and greyish looking. We use a lotion made with coconut oil. This is Sophia saying thanks to Korri for taking such great care of her.
She does her best to help, but usually ends up rubbing lots of the lotion in just one spot.
Then, as she sees that a large clump of the lotion has ended up on her finger, Sophia figures it's time to mix up the game a bit.

And since she already had Korri doing most of the real work of putting the lotion on for her, and it smells like coconut, Sophia decided she should see how it tastes. The results are in, and good smelling doesn't always equal good tasting.Sid was talking to Sophia about possible ideas for what he should dress as for Halloween. You can see she's giving it a lot of thought...
...but before she could mention any of her great ideas, Sidota asked her what she thought of his plan, going as the arch villian known as the "breadstick bandit".
She laughed at him pretty hard, and he was obviously embarrassed that he had ever gone to her for advice. The rest of the day he kept begging me not to put any of this on the blog. Oops.

Not Always Hearts and Flowers in Our House

2008-10-19T19:32:00.001-07:00

So here is what happened yesterday evening, and I feel lucky to have captured it all for posterity. The kids were at their favorite hangout, when an opportunity for Sid to be a very nice brother. He has a spatula with some tasty batter on it, and decides to share it with Sophia. You can see how this will not end up well.

You notice as he goes to let her have a lick, her left hand is grasping it fairly firmly, and her jaw is set and ready to rumble.
You guessed it, she has the spatula. Sid is now in quite a position. Before, he has simply hit or shoved her. But those things have gotten him in hot water, so he weighs his options. He did the right thing, getting Korri's attention, and she got the spatula back for him--crisis averted, right?
As you look at this, I'm probably still laughing at this photo. Is that wrong?
Sophia gets in trouble for her unprovoked attack, and Sid sits quietly with his spatula, not looking the least bit satisfied with himself.
His sister recovers from her cry pretty quickly, which she usually does, and even tries to make up for the whole ugly incident by helping him avoid looking silly with batter on his face.

In case you didn't notice, today was beautiful. Korri thought it would be great to let them play in the sprinkler. They had a blast. Lately we've noticed the kids becoming increasingly interested in hair care, I think I've mentioned that. Sophia puts all sorts of stuff in her hair. But she also makes sure to clean her beautiful locks. First step, wet hair.
Step 2, wash thoroughly (with imaginary shampoo of course).
Step 3, rinse. She goes through this every time in the tub, or if she just gets her hands wet near the sink.
Before this wardrobe adjustment, the pictures we took of Sid were for family eyes only.
For those of you who think they look so happy all the time, this is proof otherwise. Sophia had been playing with a toy, he took it, she cried, we gave it back to her, he cried. Oh, symmetry.

Sidota feels that cleanliness is important (that or he was trying to get back at her for the above mentioned altercation). So he helps Sophia get clean from bottom...
...to top (she was so focused that she pretty much didn't even know he was there)...
...oh yeah, and eventually they got back to washing the actual car.
I don't have any dust on my face do I? Sidota enjoys going out and spending time alone with the sandbox. Thanks to Travis, Wende, Anna and Alivia Tindall for letting us borrow it.
What?! The blog is done already?

READ ALL ABOUT IT -- SOPHIA TAKES A WALK!

2008-10-18T17:36:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry there are no pictures, but she caught us off guard. I was walking her around holding by one hand, when my finger slipped out of her grasp. She didn't realize it and continued to walk for three steps, stopped and stood there. I steadied her a bit, then she took off for five steps. As I carried her in to see Korri, she was laughing and throwing her head back, knowing she had done something big. Then I put her down and she took five steps towards Korri. After that, she was so excited that any attempt to walk was pretty worthless because her balance was gone. Anyway, it was pretty cool. And Grandma and Grandpa Kinney had just come by and got to see some of it for themselves.

Sidota the chef, helping Korri make some fried zucchini sticks.
Sophia likes to let us know she's about done by playing with the food, many of you have probably experienced this with your kids. She loves to be able to see the food in her bib, then take it out and eat it, or throw it on the floor, at her leisure.
Sid's amazing flying car.
Feeding cookies to goats.

Having a goat try and come through the fence to get more. It only freaked him out for a second. We were impressed.
We tried multiple times, and this was the best group paying attention shot we could get.
On this walk, he tried climbing the fences, and said his longest all-English sentence to date. "Duck birdies in the water all gone."
Today, Sophia thought it would be great to clap with a tomato. Luckily it was green, or it would have been a mess.
Then she moved on to eating it, or trying, they were pretty firm. I think at best she made some teeth marks.

Then an ideal hit her like a lightning bolt from the skies...
...that's right, tomatoes as jewelry. She hadn't figured out how to attach them yet, but most of you will agree that a single tomato, from either ear, look beautiful. She actually had just been wiping the tomato in her hair. She loves to wipe just about anything in her hair. Good to know that we may not have to spend lots on special products when she gets older.
The kids help Korri rinse paint out of a brush she'd been working with.
But obviously they weren't doing things right. You can't tell from the smile on her face, but I'm pretty sure she is about to strike Sidota. Both kids look frozen with fear.
Later, after making up with Korri after the paint brush incident, Sid uses her leg as a launching pad/test track for various vehicles. The most popular was "helicopter upstairs". The red and blue blocks are the helicopter, and he attached the yellow stairs to it. Who would have come up with that, huh? Helicopter with an upstairs---BRILLIANT!

Korri Plans the Perfect Heist!

2008-10-16T17:12:00.000-07:00

The following should not be seen as proof of bad parenting, it's just that the economy has gotten so bad, and she's so on edge, for just a little bit of time lately, Korri has been doing a bit of scheming.

Showing the first of many flaws in her master plan, she makes poor decisions when rounding up a crew.
Also, I thought that with Halloween coming up, she could have gotten a great deal on cooler masks.
Since I refused to get involved, she ropes Sidota into being the getaway driver. Not too bad a plan, she puts the money in the storage area behind the seat, and who checks a kid speeding away from the scene. The problem is that we just got this tricycle today. Sid doesn't do too well keeping his feet on the peddles, which is why you see her here with the duct tape.
It was at this point that Sidota offered not to go to private pre-school if mommy would just let him go play in the back yard with dad.
Korri persisted, putting him through the paces of the getaway route, at least giving him the benefit of a crash helmet.

Soon, Korri realized that Sidota moved the tricycle at about the same rate that most of us compute scientific equations or become concert pianists. She abandons her ridiculous heist idea and lets Sidota get back to work with me.
We blew out our sprinklers (gemplers to him) today. He was in charge of staring directly at the sprinkler.
Then he would set bark on top of it to see if the air being forced out would move the bark. He was the most competent applicant I could find for the job.
After that, I let him throw a piece of irrigation pipe around the yard. Any of you who know young boys--know that he really liked it.
And this picture is proof.

Meanwhile, Sophia sat nearby licking rocks.
She took time for a break with dad.
And then, refreshed, started working on participating in the original Greek version of the shot put.
Okay, I've got nothing for this one, she's just cute.
See ya later!

Now Back in the Blog Business

2008-10-15T07:22:00.000-07:00

So again, I got blog-burnout. By the time we got to the ends of our days recently, I just haven't felt it. But this morning, when we got woken up by the glorious sounds of the garbage truck coming around the corner (you can imagine the chaos that ensued as we quickly tried to get the can out to the curb). It was 7:43 a.m., and the kids were both still asleep--awesome! As I came in from outside, Korri was in Sid's room getting some new drawers on him. The second he got that pair of footed jammies zipped up, he turned to the kitchen, and told us he was hungry and needed to go eat. That's when I got inspired again, he just does things that are so cute to me.
Some of the things we've experienced since your last visit:
- We went into Boise to exchange some things at the mall, and as we came out, the kids got a taste of their first snowfall. Sid thought it was pretty cool, until he realized it was pretty cold.
- Sid has started wearing footed pajamas (jammies) to bed, and of course loves them.
- They both sleep through the night consistently, with long naps during the middle of the day.
- We attended an NNU volleyball game, where they crushed the competition, which both kids liked. I didn't get to see much of the game, as I was on Sid control. We did learn from this experience that he isn't quite ready for crowds yet, and skipped our first trip to church the next day. He gets a bit intimidated (rightly so) by all the people coming up to talk to us, many who can't resist the urge (and don't know not) to touch him. If you see us around, we just need folks to know that it is okay to come up and talk to us and the kids. But, for their welfare, the kids aren't supposed to have physical interaction with others. If they come up to you to touch you, if you could gently redirect them to us, that would be great. It may not make sense, but it is all about fostering attachment to us, and healthy boundaries with people who are basically strangers to them. We'll get to the point where you can treat them like normal kids, it just isn't now:) If you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch with us. We don't want any of our friends or family to feel confused or that we're upset with them.
- Some of you may see this as wrong to do to a 3 yr-old boy, but I got Sid to ask for a napkin when he needs one at meal time. He was just wiping his hands on his shirt--can you believe it?! It is precious to hear his little voice say, "napkin ikeese".
- Sophia still loves to have her hands held as she walks around the house. We're sure she just likes to have contact with us. Her favorite destination is to go to her bedroom and see her monkey and lion. The grins she gives them are huge.
- Sophia was given her first clean bill of health by the doctor.
- Sophia is a fairly happy kid, even playing independently for minutes at a time. She often checks to see that we are watching her play, not shirking parental duties.
- Some of Sid's words he's working on; big owie (used when he sees an electrical outlet (Korri taught him this)), eee wokum (you're welcome), tank ooo (thank you), mungry eat (I'm hungry, eat), and he heard me say assertion to Korri the other day on a walk. As he sat on my shoulders, I heard him whispering it to himself for the next few seconds, or trying.
- Sid is a great kid. After we got home from a store the other day, I got him out of his car seat and told him to go into the house. He saw that I was going to the trunk to get stuff, and asked if he could stay and help Daddy. What a guy.

I know I'm forgetting probably a dozen things, and you're lives are obviously less full because of it:) Thanks again for all you're prayers and well wishes--we need them.

After a night where Sid cried (very unusually) after we put him down for bed one night, we thought maybe he'd like a stuffed animal to sleep with like Sophia enjoys. As a result he got this lovely penguin birdy.
He wanted you to get a good look at it.
He loves him penguin birdy. The first time he saw it sitting on his bed waiting for nap time, he jumped on the bed and kissed it until the beak was almost soaked.
When Sophia wants a toy...

...it doesn't matter where it is, she's gonna get it.
Korri and the kids recently picked the last of the tomatoes, zucchini, and peppers from our garden. For the next 90 minutes, he hauled the zuchinnis and peppers around in his Tonka saying "geen peppers" to anyone who would listen.
Can you pick out the bored child in this photo?
Until Sophia reminded him that they were having their pictures taken.
Sid, surprising himself with his amazing strength and what he can lift.

Sophia betting him that he can't do it again.
He really enjoyed snapping the stem off the top accidentally...
...and they both thought it was nuts of him to try and eat it.
Sidota is in charge of supervising Korri's training.
See you next time!

Happy 34th, is that right, birthday to Josh Kinney!!

2008-10-09T19:47:00.000-07:00

The other day we finally put the batteries into Sid's remote control trucks (given by his great aunt and uncle Donna and Jim). He really enjoyed them, and they are very tough. It was only a matter of hours before I saw the Jeep come tumbling down the stairs. The Jeep was put into time out for a while after that.
Korri resorted to a much more low-tech, but still enjoyable form of transportation for Sophia.
We had the privilege of spending time with Jennifer and Burdette Greeny. Sid loved the open spaces in the gym, and the multi-colored volleyballs.
Luckily they had enough that they could warm up without this one, because it stayed with him the entire time.
I feel like we look smaller than usual. This was the split second of time when Sid was not trying to get the ball from me.

Having been a volleyball fan for all of 35 minutes, Sid already had advice for the players.
Sophia also loved roaming the hardwood, especially places that matched her shirt.
Korri did a great job of entertaining Sid. This creative roll the ball between your legs upside down game took up a good 5 minutes, which was as long as anything else we tried.
Sophia waved her arms around almost constantly. She was cheering, dancing, trying to get the players' attention -- who knows, but she was having a good time.
Korri and I were in the kitchen, when I looked into the laundry room, I found Sidota and Sophia working together on putting the dirty laundry into the machine. Sid had pushed the basket in there himself and gotten started. He's helped us before, but this kind of initiative was totally unexpected. Of course, when we noticed that he had put some of the whites in with a mostly colored load, we were totally disappointed.